By Diana Pulliam
“Are You Ready to Die?”
Friday, May 19, 2017
I’d been praying for months, “Lord, if there be anything in me that doesn’t give you praise, that isn’t pleasing in your sight, take it from me.”
The first week in February, 2017, during a prayer meeting, we all knelt down and submitted ourselves to the Lord as a group. We told Him we were bringing all we were before His altar, and asked to be emptied of ourselves and filled with Him.
The Lord’s Response
That night, for the remainder of our prayer time, I heard the Lord say several times:
“I AM Holy!”
“Be ye therefore Holy, even as I AM Holy.”
“Nothing unclean can stand before Me.”
“You must be a living sacrifice.”
“Are you ready to DIE?”
When the Lord asked this, I said, “Yes, Lord, I’m yours. Do with me as it pleases you.” Although I meant every word, at the time I had no idea what I was asking, and what would have to take place in order to be emptied of myself and filled with Him.
By mid-March, trials from multiple directions began to hit my life like nothing I’d ever experienced. Everything I held dear was attacked: my marriage, finances, family, friends, and even my health.
On April 27th, in the midst of all this, I was on my way to a friend’s house. It was pouring rain and the hour drive was taking twice as long. So I began praising the Lord and praying in the spirit. Suddenly, the full impact of the calamities swirling around me hit full force. Intense pain and sorrow welled up within my spirit and I began to groan in agony. The gut wrenching pain reached a level I couldn’t contain, and the groans turned to screams, which seemed to come from every fiber of my being.
So here I was, driving down the road, tears flowing, groaning and screaming in the spirit, heart completely crushed and broken, crying out to the Lord, when I heard Him say loudly:
“Dying is Not Easy!”
As these words penetrated through all the pain, suddenly everything converged in my spirit. I saw myself bowed before Him as I’d been doing for months, begging to be transformed into His image and likeness.
Then a vision of Jesus on the cross flashed in front of me, as I heard the Lord say,
“You must be crucified in Christ!”
Then I remembered what He’d said to me at the prayer meeting,
“I AM Holy!”
“Be ye therefore Holy, even as I AM Holy.”
“Nothing unclean can stand before Me.”
“You must be a living sacrifice.”
“Are you ready to DIE?”
When He’d asked if I was ready to die, I’d answered, “Yes!” Instantly, I realized The Lord was answering my prayers! Everything in me not of the Lord was being stripped away. I was being crucified in Christ!
Friends, I’ve been mostly quiet through this painful process, but last week the Lord spoke the following to me and made it clear it was to be shared:
“My people are not asking Me to finish the work I’ve begun in them. This final work may only be done with their permission.”
The Lord then led me to a section of the book The Pursuit of God by Dr. A.W. Tozer, which perfectly describes this process:
“Self is the opaque veil that hides the face of God from us. It can be removed only in spiritual experience, never by mere instruction… There must be a work of God in destruction before we are free. We must invite the cross to do its deadly work within us… The cross is rough and it is deadly, but it is effective. It does not keep its victim hanging there forever. There comes a moment when its work is finished and the suffering victim dies. After that is resurrection glory and power, and the pain is forgotten for the joy that the veil is taken away and we have entered in actual spiritual experience the presence of the living God.” pp. 46&47.
If the Body of Christ is to be transformed into His image and likeness, we must die to self. Jesus told us, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.” Matthew 16:24. Jesus meant what He said!
Brethren, the Lord is asking our permission to finish the work he’s begun in us. His question to us is, “Are you ready to die?” He wants us to know in advance, “Dying is NOT easy!” And as the work of the cross is carried out, our total focus must be on Him – we absolutely MUST TRUST HIM in this. It’s been made very clear to me, without going through this crucifixion process, you’ll be useless to Him in the days ahead.
Remember, the cross doesn’t keep its victim hanging there forever. The moment will come when its work is finished and the victim dies. After that is resurrection glory and power!
Please pray and take what’s been shared before the Lord for further interpretation. I believe the painful trials many of the Saints are going through right now are because our prayers are being answered. The Church is being transformed!
Scripture References:
1 Peter 1:16, Leviticus 11:44, “Be ye therefore Holy, even as I AM Holy.”
Galations 2:20, “I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me…”
Romans 12:1, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God…”
2 Cor. 3:18 says, “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
Matt. 16:24, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.”
Hebrews 12:1-2, “…looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross…”
